Green-roof systems can reduce heating and cooling costs, decrease storm water runoff, and help reduce pollution. Composed of a waterproofing layer, root barrier, drainage system, and a growing medium for the vegetation, living roofs give birds, insects, and urban dwellers a little extra green space without taking up any square footage outside of a home's existing footprint. Below, you’ll find a collection of green roofs that’ll make you want to research how to retrofit your own.

An Australian Architect’s Impressive Green Roof

Emilio Fuscaldo, founder of Melbourne-based Nest Architects, designed this brick house for himself and his partner, Anna Krien, on a small subdivided lot in Coburg, a suburb north of Melbourne, Australia. The 500-square-foot green roof of the home is much more than just an environmental statement. Water from the rooftop feeds the toilet and the garden’s watering system, while the garden serves as insulation to keep the gas bills low in the winter.
" layout="wide" credit="Nic Granleese" photoUserId=""/>

An Author’s Eco-Hideaway in Austin, Texas

A Playful Backyard Addition in Montreal

A Charming Weekend Cottage in Marin County, California

An Expansive Grass Roof Tops This Brazilian Home

A Dwelling With All the Staples of Green Design

A Seamless Landscaping Renovation in San Francisco

For the remodel of his family’s home in San Francisco, designer Peter Liang undertook a two-part landscaping renovation. First, he planted a living roof. Then, with the help of landscape architect Andrea Cochran, he redid the backyard. “I wanted to plant a green roof for its thermal mass, but I wanted it to be as natural as possible,” Liang says. The resulting 580-square-foot green roof is like a piece of the hill; its indigenous vegetation—seeded by birds and wind—is irrigated only by seasonal rain and dew. Purple thistles, California poppies, clover, and dandelions have all taken root in the roughly ten-inch-deep, lightweight humus and grape-husk soil." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Ike Edeani" photoUserId="6133437699253493760"/>

A Tiny, Grass-Covered Prefab Cabin in Western Norway

A Progressive Public Housing Project in Portland, Oregon

This $47 million affordable housing project known as Bud Clark Commons was designed by Holst Architecture in Portland’s Pearl District. The building incorporates a design sensibility that’s usually reserved for luxury lofts—and enough green features to obtain a LEED Platinum rating." layout="wide" credit="Chris Mueller" photoUserId=""/>

A Massive, 70-Year-Old Douglas Fir Anchors a British Columbia Home Built for $202K

Using construction techniques passed down from his father—and plenty of nearby lumber—Marlin Hanson built a home for his family of five on the side of Mount Elphinstone in British Columbia, Canada. “When I picked the site, I imagined the house looking like it was part of the field it sat in,” says Marlin. To achieve that effect, the family planted an evolving array of flowers, grass, moss, and succulents on the rooftop. “I go up with the kids in the spring, and we rip out handfuls of them and put them in new places,” explains Marlin." layout="wide" credit="Dolf Vermeulen" photoUserId=""/>

A Verdant Hillside Home in Big Sur, California

An Award-Winning New England Vacation Home Covered in Local Sea Grasses

Emerging gracefully from an overgrown meadow on Chappaquiddick Island near Edgartown, Massachusetts, the smart design of this family vacation home earned Peter Rose + Partners an Honor Award for Design Excellence from the Boston Society of Architects in 2014. Natural sea grasses were sourced from the surrounding area to cover the roof of the building, providing thermal insulation while also dampening the noise of rain, improving air quality, and helping to manage rainwater flow." layout="wide" credit="Matthwe Synder" photoUserId=""/>

A Fishers Island Prefab With Two Green Rooftops

Architects Joseph Tanney and Robert Luntz of Manhattan-based firm Resolution: 4 designed this prefabricated, modular home with two green roofs on Fishers Island, New York. The landscape architects at Reed Hilderbrand planted sedge grass on one of the rooftops to reflect the texture of the surrounding meadow. The second green roof was planted with sedum and plays host to one of the family’s favorite spots: a hammock." layout="" credit="Photo by Matthew Williams" photoUserId="6133430424681861120"/>

A Compact Home That Rises From the Ground in Belgium

This Copenhagen Rooftop Renovation Embodies the Future of Urban Design

In Copenhagen’s Nørrebro neighborhood, architect Julien De Smedt replaced an apartment building's confined attic area with three new penthouses and built a common “backyard” on the roof. The construction was done to make sure that the four areas of the roof—the sundeck, grass hill, play space, and outdoor terrace—all felt like distinct but united areas." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Julian Lanoo" photoUserId=""/>

Three Generations Live Under One Green Roof in San Francisco

Nine Black Concrete Volumes Form This Mexican Retreat

This Eco-Friendly Home Wears the South African Bush as Camouflage

South African couple Lukas and Wendy van Niekerk turned to local firm Daffonchio Architects to build their home within the 1,300-acre Monaghan Farm eco-estate near Johannesburg. The house is intentionally sunk into the ground and features planted grass roofs that reflect the vegetation that existed before the building’s construction. “We literally recreated the original landscape on the roof gardens, so that from a bird’s eye view, the home should blend perfectly into its surroundings,” says architect Enrico Daffonchio." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Adam Letch" photoUserId=""/>

This Epic Green Roof Blurs the Boundaries Between Landscape and Home

A Gardener’s Home in Argentina Boasts Flowing Green Spaces

Nature Reigns Supreme at a Verdant Home in Missouri

A Bold, Green-Roofed Home Sprouts on the Edge of a Rural English Village

On a small and awkward site in Wing—a village in England’s Midlands region—London-based firm Featherstone Young built a 3,735-square-foot home for retired doctors Matthew and Nicky Lyttelton. A distinctive green roof melds the building with the surrounding landscape, spiraling around the wings of the house and encircling a central open courtyard." layout="wide" credit="James Brittain" photoUserId=""/>

A Spectacular Green Roof Floats Over This Concrete Home in Brazil

A Magical, Off-Grid Guesthouse Disappears Into the South African Bushveld

A House With a Green Roof Tucks Into the Landscape in Lithuania

Related Reading:

Is it Easy Being Green? The Costs and Benefits of Green Roofs

4 Easy Steps to Creating Your Own DIY Green Roof